Fusion mantra

The latest edition of Farzi Café in Bengaluru is a design feat by Delhi-based This Is It Designs.

Bengaluru got its fifth and largest Farzi Café in UB City. Zorawar Kalra, Founder and Managing Director, Massive Restaurants, opened this 11,000 sq ft restaurant that offers Indian cuisine with global influences in a combination of al-fresco seating and indoor dining space, that can accomodate 250 guests at a time. Designed by Saheba Singh of This is It Designs, it is the first outlet of the brand to have a micro-brewery attached to it.

Open-air experience
The al-fresco section, which has a magnificent view, has a mix of lounge seating, regular table and chair affairs, bar stool style elevated seating, and island bar set up. Three cabanas, covered with sheer white drapes can seat up to eight people. The light fixtures on solid black posts are designed to look like wild mushrooms. The seating arrangement is kept dynamic so that it can be changed as per requirement. Upholding the uniqueness of each Farzi Café, the Bengaluru outlet extensively uses mirrors to create reflections and a sense of grandeur. ´Considering that the ceiling height is very low with civil coffers we interspersed a mirror and candle bulb installation throughout the ceiling. The mirrors are suspended from the slab at different angles while being perpendicular to the floor and the candle bulbs are interspersed between those. So, one bulb has a few hundred reflections. The light installation almost seems to move as you move´, explains Singh.

Seamless and fluid
Kalra chose to have an island bar set up, which was conveniently accessible across both the indoor and outdoor spaces. ´The island bar is made in metal and a hand-made pattern is laser-cut in MS sheet and backlit,´ explains Singh.

The inside dining offers a more intimate experience and space for live performances. The elevated stage with a drum kit is a standard feature at all Farzi Café outlets. Explaining how they have taken forward the idea of seamlessness, Saheba says that there are no walls or partitions. ´We have used materials that are durable but feel warm at the same time. So, the grey limestone floor cut in small diagonal tiles is a lovely contrast to the Noir maroon walls. The paints and coatings on the floor are exterior grade.´

Creating illusions
The restaurant has one wall completely clad with an antique mirror with terminated half arches against it. This results in the other half of the arch being completed in the reflection doubling up the entire interior space in the reflections. This includes the bulb-candle-mirror installation on the ceiling and changes the entire scale of the space.

´Farzi Café aims to break the stereotype attached with Indian food, while focusing on enticing the youth to take pride in the culinary legacy of this vast geographic landscape,´ says Kalra. Kalra along with Singh´s design team have ensured that the culinary philosophy of Farzi Café is reflected in the interiors, too.

Text: Ruth Dsouza Prabhu

CONTACT
This is It Designs, N-23 South Extension Part 1, New Delhi -110 049.
Tel: 011-4065 6743.
E-mail: saheba@thisisit.net.in

Meet the designer
Saheba SinghFirm: This Is It Designs since 2003.Firm specialisation: Hospitality design. Design philosophy: There comes a time in your life when your work is not something you do, it becomes who you are. Let your spaces reflect that passion. For me this is not my job, it´s my calling.

Favourite architect/Designer: Zaha Hadid. She was a legend and an inspiration...